Grass Description
Disturbed areas, roadsides and wastelands, swales and desert washes. Prolific on disturbed soils after summer rains, this species can form dense stands in many areas.
General Description
A weedy, annual bunchgrass with weak, spreading stems and a shallow root system, usually decumbent (growing along the ground and then upward). Grows 24 to 48 inches in height. Distinct digitate (finger-like) branched seedhead.
Tufted annual, 4 to 30 inches tall; occasionally with stolons; sheaths smooth; stems trail and then bend upwards; ligules to 1/4 inch, irregularly dissected or fringed with hairs; blades flat or folded, 1/16 to 1/4 inch wide, smooth; digitate seedhead.
Flower Characteristics
Several slender feathery branches 1 to 3 inches long, radiating finger-like from the end of a slender, erect stem. Silky, white or pinkish cast due to numerous long awns and hairy lemmas. Spikelets in two rows along one side of the finger-like branches.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blades 2-1/2 to 10 inches long, 1/16 to 1/3 inch wide, densely covered with short hairs or with a few long hairs.
Poor.